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Full of micro & macro aggressions I find 5/11 stories thought provoking. My favorites were the ones where our protagonist's attitudes or actions caused me to think-as opposed to what happened to them. Stand Outs were: Who We Are, All the Things You'll Never Do, Mambo Sauce, & Now This. Final draft of College Essay was poignant.

“I don't know if protest is always meant to be productive,“ she said. “Sometimes you just have to get something out of your system.“

Mambo Sauce

In addition to Esther yesterday I read another short story from this collection titled: All the Things You'll Never Do. I think I had needed a break from the short stories as the book was getting meh on me but this one was very good. I think it was one of the two top stories so far in collection.

I think it is important to feel chosen, and I am choosing you.

I hope you will choose me, too.

~~~ Final Draft of College Essay

...sometimes that's what being grown is. Knowing who you are, who you really are, even when no one else does.

~~~Strong Men

… the old lady is still scared. That she hates us because we are everything she has tried to deny that we are. We are everything she has thought but has never said.
We have shown her.
~~~~ Who We Are

I didn‘t really connect with any of the characters but I think it‘s important to see the varying experiences of black girls and women.

This collection of short stories showcases black women and girls in different ways, not as society expects them to be. Loved the opening lines of the first story: “We walk down the halls like we are coming to beat you up. Even teachers move out the way.” Your expectations are set...but they‘re your expectations, not who these young women are or could be if people saw beneath the veneer. Each story tells a tale, and each is interesting.

The stories in this collection at first seem well done, but perhaps nothing special. The power of the book is the collective voices and the story they tell about Black female experiences - and that, in the end, they're all individual responses to similar social pressure, one of those being that white America prefers to see Black women and girls through a single lens. I could be biased - I live very near DC's NE Ward 8, the setting of book, but 🔽

I love the title because actually, the author is teaching the reader about African American Girls. A collection of short stories that draws you and gives you something to think about.

"Once, she was so sure of invincibility: the firmness of her thighs, the elasticity of her heart, the expansiveness of the world whenever she decided to open her arms wide enough to capture the entire thing. And now? She walked toward Marcus, his tie too tight, his car too old, but his smile nicely warm and intimate. Now, twenty years later, this."
-"Now, This"
Gawd, the lonely, chill wind coming off of this story. It hurts my bones. ☹

"Rae remembered that first dates were interviews for jobs you weren‘t even sure you wanted. Sometimes, ones for which you hadn‘t even applied."
-"Now, This"

"Somewhere an Amber Alert was going off: a childless forty-one-year-old woman buying baby diapers."
-"Now, This"

"Lori probably cheated at war and ate all the red Now and Laters in the pack."
-"Cicada"
?⚰

I loved all of these stories. They reminded me how much I love the short story format. All of them had a very strong sense of place—Washington DC—which is a surefire way to charm my literary heart.

“One day, when she is all grown with a little girl of her own and days when she must stay in bed, she will remember her toes sinking into the sand and know that this, too, is a kind of solid ground.” —from “Everything She Wants”

Eleven captivating stories take place in the heart of our nation's capital and revolve around the black women and girls that reside there. Acker beautifully addresses our struggles for acceptance and the lessons taught from each expression of it. She challenges the stereotypes with intimate looks into each girl and woman's life, offering a narrative that would likely go overlooked.

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

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